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Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
Real Name: Matthew Michael Murdock Nicknames: Matt, Former Aliases: Jack Batlin, Kingpin of Crime, Laurent LeVasseur, Michael "Mike" Murdock, Nameless One, Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen Other Current Aliases: The Man Without Fear, DD, Red, The Daredevil, Hornhead Status Occupation: Adventurer, vigilante, Attorney at Law Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record Identity: Exposed in a newspaper, but denied by Murdock Marital Status: Estranged Group Affiliation: Former partner of Black Widow Base of Operations: The neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, New York, New York Origin Place of Birth: New York City, New York State Known Relatives: Jonathan "Jack" Murdock (aka "Battlin Jack", Father, deceased), Grace Murdock (aka Sister Maggie, Mother), Milla Donovan (estranged wife) First Apearance: ''Daredevil'' Vol. 1 #1, 1962 History The story of Matt Murdock begins with his father. "Battlin'" Jack Murdock had raised his son alone, claiming Matt's mother had died. Jack wanted his son to be more successful than him. He impressed upon Matt the need to constantly study instead of playing sports with other kids. This led the neighborhood kids to taunt the "cowardly" Matt as "Daredevil". Matt took out his frustrations by secretly training in his father's gym. One day, Matt saw a blind man about to be hit by a truck. Matt pushed the man out of the way. The truck crashed and a radioactive isotope fell out. It struck Matt across the face and blinded him. While recovering in the hospital, Matt discovered his hearing, smell, taste, and touch were amplified to superhuman degrees. He also developed a "radar sense" that formed a mental picture of his surroundings. He was also visited by a nun wearing a gold cross. Matt wouldn't know who this woman was for many years. Matt also received training from the ninja master Stick. Matt continued to study and entered Columbia Law School. At Columbia, Matt met and fell in love with Elektra Natchios. It was a first love for both of them. When Elektra's father was accidentally killed by police, she retreated from the world and Matt. Meanwhile, Jack Murdock was desperate to get fights. He reluctantly joined with a crooked fight promoter known as "The Fixer". The Fixer set up Jack to be a heavyweight contender, just to have him take a dive. Jack refused and won his fight. Later that night, Jack Murdock was shot dead by The Fixer and his men. The now orphaned Matt earned his law degree and opened a practice with Franklin "Foggy" Nelson and secretary Karen Page. He also searched for his father's killers. Matt made a yellow and black costume out of his father's old boxing robes. He finally found the Fixer's gang and confronted the Fixer himself. Matt chased The Fixer until he died from a massive heart attack. Although his father's death was avenged, Matt continued to fight crime as Daredevil. Like most Marvel heroes, Daredevil's life has been a mix of joy and tragedy. His most memorable stories usually involved a woman he loved. His true love was Karen Page. She pursued an acting career in L.A., but ended up a porn star hooked on heroin. She sold out Daredevil's secret identity; information that eventually reached Wilson Fisk, Kingpin of all crime in New York City. Matt would take Karen back and they built a life together. Sadly, Karen's life ended when she was killed by the assassin Bullseye. Matt would be reunited with Elektra under the worst circumstances. After college, Eleketra had become an assassin. She'd trained with an evil ninja cult called The Hand. Although she left The Hand, she had become cold and violent. Elektra would later be killed by Bullseye. Fortunately, ninja magic and Murdock's love would bring her back to life and "cleanse her spirit". She moved to a remote mountain retreat to live with The Chaste, the Hand's heroic counterpart. In the 1970's, Murdock moved to San Francisco with Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow. They became comics' first unamarried couple to live together. Although their relationship ended years ago, they remain friends. But sometimes Natasha wishes they were more... Long forgotten is Heather Glenn, Matt's one-time fiancee of the late 70's and early 80's. Glenn was the heiress to Glenn industries. After Elektra's death, Matt proposed to Heather. He then went to work proving Glenn Industries' board of directors were invovled in illegal dealings. He found enough proof to ruin the company, and leave Heather with no choice but to marry him. Foggy saw what Matt was doing was wrong. With the Black Widow's help, he broke up Matt and Heather. Years later, a drunken Heather called Matt for help. When he learned she was lying, he angrily left and ignored her. Days later, she hanged herself. Typhoid Mary is the living emobident of the Madonna/whore complex. Mary is a sweet but frightened woman who's been a successful actress. Typhoid is the trashy, cruel killer with telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers. The Kingpin hired her to make Matt Murdock fall in love with her, and then drive him crazy. Typhoid Mary succeeded in getting Matt to cheat on Karen Page and nearly beat him to death. Her recent appearance shows her mental conflict has gotten worse. Glorianna O'Brien was an Irish photojournalist who met Matt when he fought an IRA terrorist. But Matt's decent into poverty and madness, brought about by the Kingpin, pushed her away. She later moved in with Foggy Nelson. Years later, Glorianna was killed by Victor "Kruel" Krueller, a madman trying to remember his past by beating witnesses to his attempted murder. Maya Lopez was born deaf. She also has the gift to recreate any physical motion she sees. The Kingpin used her in another plot to destroy Matt Murdock. First, he arranged Matt to meet her, knowing Matt was lonely after the recent death of Karen Page. Then he tricked Maya into thinking Daredevil killed her father. Maya created the identity of Echo and fought Daredevil. She didn't know he was Matt and he didn't know why she now hated him. Matt soon explained himself and Maya attacked the Kingpin. She left him blinded for many months. The latest woman in Matt's life is Milla Donovan. Like Matt, Donovan is blind. Matt saved her life and a year later they were married. Milla has since learned their marriage may be part of Matt's mental breakdown. She has filed for an annulment. It could be argued that Matt Murdock has been searching for a substitute for the mother that abandoned him at birth. Long thought dead, Matt would find his mother, "Maggie", living as a nun. Why she left Matt for a convent hasn't been explained. The greatest villains in Daredevil's life have struck at him personally. While his early enemies were laughable, (Matador, Stilt Man, Leap Frog), he has gathered an impressive and dangerous rogues gallery. Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of crime, takes a piece of every illegal deal on the East Coast. It was Fisk who systematically destroyed every piece of Matt Murdock's life; who is indirectly responsible for the deaths of Elektra, Karen Page, and Jack Murdock; who knows Murdock is Daredevil, but never told anyone, just to play power games with our hero. In short, Wilson Fisk is a bad, bad man. Fortunately, he's currently in jail. Bullseye is the world's deadliest assassin. He has perfect aim, a backbone made of unbreakable metal, and the uncanny gift to turn anything into a weapon. His hatred for Daredevil stems from his many defeats. Bullseye has killed Elektra and Karen Page, the two women Murdock loved the most. He has also been arrested, but may now be free. The Purple Man has been called the Hannibal Lecter of the Marvel Universe. He first appeared in 'Daredevil' #3 as a spy for a foreign country. When he was accidentally doused with experimental chemicals, they turned his skin purple and gave him the power to control people's minds. His power isn't very effective against Daredevil since it works best when people can see him. The Purple Man's still been able to cause a lot of trouble for ol' Hornhead. The Purple Man has recently resurfaced crueler than ever. Mister Fear seems like a natural enemy for a "Man Without Fear". He was a wax museum curator obsessed with bringing his statues to life. Instead, he discovered a gas that filled people with terror. He used this gas as Mister Fear to commit daring crimes. He struck close to Daredevil's heart when he arranged for a stalker to terrorize Karen Page. When Page killed her stalker in self-defense, Mister Fear made it look like Karen made up her stalker and actually murdered a cop. Matt just barely cleared her name with unexpected help from the Kingpin. Mysterio has always been one of Spider-Man's most persistent enemies. But when he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer, he conceived an elaborate "final performance". Knowing he couldn't beat Spider-Man, he tried to drive Daredevil mad, and then kill him. Bullseye was working for Mysterio when he killed Karen Page. Murdock overcame Mysterio's traps and illusions and showed how the villain failed. Shamed and despairing, Mysterio shot himself dead. Or did he? One axiom in comics is "nothing really changes". No matter what happenes to change a hero's life, things always return to the status quo. That's been true for Daredevil, though his "status quo" isn't much more than "he's a blind, crime-fighting lawyer". A recurring theme in Daredevil stories is identity: How Matt sees himself, how others see him and Daredevil, and how those perceptions affect his actions have led to some dramatic changes in Murdock's costumed career. Some of the most interesting shakeups in his life: He created an imaginary twin brother, Mike Murdock, to protect his secret identity. He would often pretend to be "Mike" to act like the confident, cocky Daredevil for his friends. "Mike" would die in a fight, allowing Matt to become the "new" Daredevil. While living in San Francisco, Matt worked for another law firm. He left when he realized his bosses were more concerned with their careers than with their clients. The Kingpin would destroy Matt's life, taking away his home and livelihood. But Matt put his life back together. He opened a free law clinic in Hell's Kitchen where he lived with the newly returned Karen Page. Matt's secret identity was threatened by a New York tabloid. Though he protected himself, he still faked his death. Even Foggy and Karen were fooled. Matt now lived as a street hustler named Jack Batlin. He kept fighting crime as Daredevil, this time with an armored costume and a meaner attitude. This lead to an identity crisis. Recently, Murdock was outed by the press as Daredevil. He's publicly denied this and is suing the paper. Murdock continued to fight crime, ultimately defeating Wilson Fisk and claiming the title of "Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen". No one is allowed to commit any crime in Hell's Kitchen. The neighborhood's improved, but Matt may be going crazy. After all, his true love has died, he's lying to the public, and he's taken the name of his worst enemy. Hardly the signs of a stable person. Readers are wondering how this chapter in Matt Murdock's life will end? Matt was eventually captured by the FBI and sent to prison for his actions. Foggy Nelson was believed to have been killed and a Daredevil impostor was sighted. Matt learned the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Bullseye, and Punisher (Frank Castle) were also serving time. An attempt at breakout was made by Black Tarantula. Matt was able to stop Fisk and Bullseye and saved the warden. He and Punisher then escaped. The impostor was confronted, revealing himself as Iron Fist and that he had been hired to do so. The two and Ben Urich searched for information. The employer seems to be an injured but very much alive Foggy Nelson. Characteristics Height: 6' 0" Weight: 200 lbs (91kg) Eyes: Blue Hair: Red Unusual Features: None Villains and Enemies *The Kingpin *Bullseye *Elektra *The Purple Man *The Owl *Stilt-man *Mister Fear *The Punisher * The Matador Powers Known Powers: Superhuman Senses: Daredevil has superhuman senses of smell, taste, touch, balance, and hearing. Superhuman Sense of Touch: Daredevil's sense of touch is so acute that his finger can feel the faint impressions of ink on a printed page, allowing him to read by touch. The rest of his skin is equally sensitive, enabling him by concentration to feel minute temperature and pressure changes in the atmosphere around him. Even with his senses of smell and hearing blocked, he can feel the presence of a person standing five feet away from him simply by his or her body heat and disturbance of air. A side effect of his sense of touch is Daredevil's ability to manipulate his muscles and internal organs. The sense of touch is not just external, but internal too, thereby giving him the ability to have total body control increasing his strength and reflexes to near peak human levels and increasing his agility to enhanced human levels. Superhuman Sense of Smell: Daredevil's sense of smell is so acute that he can distinguish between identical twins at twenty feet by minute differences in smell. He can detect odors of an atmospheric concentration of thirty parts per million. Furthur, his ability to remember smells enables him to identify any person he has spent at least five minutes with by smell alone, no matter how he or she might try to camoflage his or her natural odor. His powers of concentration are such that he can focus upon a single person's smell and follow it through a crowd of people at a distance of fifty feet. Superhuman Sense of Hearing: Daredevil's sense of hearing enables him to detect an acoustic pressure change of one decibel at a pressure level of seven decibels (whereas the lowest threshold for average human hearing is twenty decibels.) He can hear a person's heartbeat at a distance of over twenty feet, or people whispering on the other side of a standard soundproofed wall. Through practice, Daredevil is able to control his hearing acuity, mentally blocking out specific sounds like his own breathing and heartbeat, all ambient sounds to a normal human level of perception, or all sounds but a particular sound he is concentrating upon. If taken by surprise, Daredevil can suffer more distress from a painfully loud sound than an ordinary human would. Also, beyond a certain size, crowds of people tend to create too many sensory impressions for him to sort through. Superhuman sense of balance: It is a common misconception that balance isn't a sense, but Daredevil's balance centers give him equilibrium on par with Spider-Man. *''Lie Detection: Daredevil can tell whether a person is lying by listening to changes in his or her heartbeat (though he can be fooled by a pacemaker or those able to control their own heartbeat.) *Person Identification: Daredevil can identify people by the specific patterns of their heartbeats. '''Superhuman Sense of Taste': Daredevil's sense of taste enables him to detect the number of grains of salt on a pretzal. His ability to remember tastes enables him to determine every ingredient of a food or drink he tastes, as long as there are at least twenty milligrams of that substance present. Radar Sense: Daredevil can also sense the proximity and arrangement of objects about himself. According to one theory, Daredevil's "radar sense" functions via his brain's generation of energy within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The signal emanates from sending regions of his brain, after which it travels outward, bounces off objects around him, and returns to receiving regions of his brain. Another theory is that this sense functions more closely to sonar in which Daredevil hears the faint echoes of sounds as they bounce off nearby objects. His sense may operate by a combination of these techniques or by other, unknown means. His "radar sense" varies from the "proximity sense" of Stick and the Chaste, which is more of a mystical discipline. In any event, via this ability, Daredevil synthesizes a very close analogue of three-dimensional human sight. Its resolution is not very fine, probably on the order of several feet at a distance of one hundred feet. By repositioning his head and adding input from his other senses, Daredevil is able to resolve the image of an average flagpole (three-inch cylinder) at a distance of over eighty feet. Limitation: Daredevil's superhuman senses render him extraordinarily vulnerable to excessive sound, odors, etc., which can be incapacitating to him. He is unable to discern pictures or video images, and he can only guess at colors based on the amount of heat they are absorbing or reflecting. Abilities: Genius: Daredevil is an accomplished strategist as well as an expert in interrogation, disguise, and detective work. As Murdock, he is a skilled lawyer, specializing in criminal justice. Daredevil has also been trained in the ninja arts by Stick, a master and member of the secret order The Chaste. Stick helped Daredevil control his powers and taught him valuable fighting techniques. DD's fighting style blends these martial arts with acrobatics and traditional boxing. Daredevil is in peak physical condtion due to constant training and exercise. Strength Level: Peak human male with intensive regular exercise. Miscellaneous Equipment Daredevil formerly used an armored costume. Transportation: None known. Weapons: Daredevil carries a billy club that can be used either as a baton or a grappling hook. Trivia * Daredevil has been portrayed by Ben Affleck in the (2003) motion picture Daredevil. Previously, Rex Smith played the role in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), and the late Edward Laurence Albert voiced the character in the 1994 Spider-Man animatted series. The character also appeared in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Recommended Reading Essential Daredevil'' Vol 1-2.' The first 48 issues and the first annual are collected in these cheap trade paperbacks. They feature the first appearances of Daredevil, his friends, and his first enemies. Best read for the Silver Age Gene Colan artwork. '''Daredevil: Yellow. DD's early crimefighting days, when he wore a yellow costume instead of a red one, are re-examined by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Some details contradict the Silver Age comics, but it's a nice look at the relationships that shaped Matt Murdock. 'Daredevil: Man Without Fear. Mini-series by Frank Miller that rewrites Matt's origins in a very dark style. Grim stuff, even compard to other Miller comics. Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Vo. 1-3. Comics legend Frank Miller gained fame by reinventing Daredevil in the late 70's/early 80's. These books collect issues #159-191, featuring the first meeting between Daredevil and Kingpin; the first appearance, death, and rebirth of Elektra; Daredevil's first bout with madness; and generaly serving as the template and standard for every story told after it! Daredevil: Born Again. Reprinting Daredevil Vol. 1 #227-232. The Kingpin learns that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. He spends months destorying every aspect of Murdock's life, driving him past the point of sanity. At the last moments, when Murdock is literaly dying, he finds the strength to fight back. Murdock builds a new life for himself, is reunited with Karen Page and his mother, and hurts the Kingpin bad. A classic. Daredevil Hardcover books Vol. 1-4. The hardcover books collect issues from the current Daredevil series, relaunched in 1998. They include screenwriter Kevin Smith's "Guardian Devil", featuring the death of Karen Page, David Mack's "Echo" about Echo, and Brian Michael Bendis' run since issue #26. You really do need to read every volume and everything after to see the scope and depth of what's happened to Daredevil. Trust me; it's well worth the effort. Daredevil Vol. 2 #20-25. For the life of me, I don't know why this isn't availabe in the hardcover series or a trade book. Matt Murdock is hired to sue Daredevil for damages. It's a fairly simple premise with real-world problems. It's the kind of story Stan Lee would have written in the Silve Age, though in a lot less than 6 issues! Screenwriter Bob Gale and penciler Phil Winslade create a fun, smart story. It's the kind you don't see very often these days. As a bonus, #20 has a short story by Stan Lee and classic Daredevil artist Gene Colan. How cool is that? Appearances * Amazing Spider-Man #16 - Teamed with Spider-Man to battle the Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime. * Amazing Spider-Man #18 - Cameo Appearance See Also * Character Gallery: * Appearances of * Quotations by References * External Links * Daredevil article at Wikipedia ---- Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Secret Identity Category:Estranged Characters Category:American Category:Blue Eyes Category:Red Hair Category:Blind Characters Category:Silver Age Category:Copy Edit